Boredom, sadness, and the light of existence

Every season of life offers new invitations to slow down, listen deeply, and get back to what really matters. Whether through learning, teaching, or simply noticing the stillness between moments, mindfulness continues to lead us into the heart again and again.

Each week, I’ll share some practices, resources, and inspiration to help you live more intentionally and compassionately.

This week, I am filled with gratitude for Gillian Florence Sanger, who has served as an Advanced Mindfulness Teacher in the Mindfulness Exercise Community for the past eight years. Her wisdom, kindness, and integrity have touched countless lives of teachers and students alike.

As she embarks on her next chapter, we are honored to celebrate the launch of her new home for education and transformation: Inner Forest School.

If you are a coach, facilitator, or wellness practitioner, we especially encourage you to consider Gillian’s Guided Imagery Teacher Certification Program. This program is specialized training to guide you through your inner journey of healing with confidence and care.

Gillian, thank you for your glorious presence and the seeds of mindfulness you have sown around the world.

What if boredom was not a problem to be solved, but a gateway to creativity?

In a fascinating talk, Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks explores how boredom gives the brain space to rest, recharge, and imagine. Allowing your mind to wander activates the default mode network, a part of the brain associated with insight, innovation, and emotional balance.

It turns out that boredom may be one of the most underrated mindfulness practices. This reminds us that not every moment needs to be filled.

Watch here → Must Be Bored. Here’s why:

In our latest podcast episode, we talk with Dr. Steve Herbalin about incorporating mindfulness into the world of higher education, where anxiety, distraction, and overwhelm are increasingly common.

🎧 Listen on our website / Apple Podcasts / Spotify

Dr. Haberlin shares practical ways to bring mindfulness into the classroom through breathing techniques, box breathing, and loving-kindness meditation. His research highlights how these simple tools can help students regulate stress, improve focus, and strengthen resilience.

Whether you’re an educator, parent, or lifelong learner, this episode provides grounded insights into how mindfulness can support both learning and mental well-being.

Grief is one of our most human teachers. Dr. Rick Hanson’s research provides a gentle framework for dealing with grief with mindfulness.

His worksheet on grief and loss combines practical tools and neuroscience to show you how to balance grief with nourishing experiences that promote positive neuroplasticity and resilience. Rick uses a “take in the good” approach and invites us to gently transform pain into presence.

This is a beautiful resource for personal reflection or use in a therapeutic or group setting.

Check out this worksheet → 3 ways to live with grief and loss

Few poems speak of the quiet grace of mindfulness as much as this poem by Hafiz. It reminds us that love is always nearby, even when we forget to see it.

in the morning

When I started to wake up,

it happened again

That feeling, my love,

stood over me all night

While watching over me,

that feeling

As soon as you start stirring

you put your lips on my forehead

and lit the sacred lamp

In my heart.

This poem is an invitation to the sacredness of simple consciousness, the quiet, shining love that has been watching over us all along.

From guided imagery to grief, creative boredom to divine presence, each theme this week points to the same truth. Mindfulness is a return home. It is a gentle return to life as it unfolds in the here and now, one breath at a time, one poem at a time, one act of consciousness at a time.